Beyond The Veil
by Tygerwulfe
Summary: Elle's dead. Sylar's dead, at least for now. So what happens beyond that veil...? 2 Author Collaboration Reviews are loved! 1st Heroes fanfic!


Title: Beyond The Veil

Author(s): Tygerwulfe & NyxGoldstone1

Rating: Same as the show.

Characters: Sylar/Elle, obviously.

Summary: Elle's dead. Sylar's dead, at least for now. So what happens beyond that veil...

Author's Notes: This was written over the course of four hours as a role play after we watched the last episode. I took the RP, edited it and rewrote it into story form. I'm posting with my co-author's permission. Our first Heroes fanfic.

Sylar felt a sharp pain in his head. She stabbed him. That cheerleading bitch stabbed him. And he suddenly wasn't in Primatech anymore. He looked around, turning in a slow, complete circle. He was still standing, so he couldn't be dead. Except that... it was all white. Everything was white. There was no discernable floor, ceiling, or even walls.

"I've seen this before," the serial killer murmured to himself. Only for a few seconds, but he had seen it. After Bennet had slit his throat and before he revived. He'd been wrong a moment earlier – he was dead. "Damnit, I had them!" His exclaimation was half shout, and half growl, echoing in the non-space he occupied. "I had them... Fine. I'll heal."

Time passed. He didn't heal. And no amount of continuing to pace in the small circle that he was allowing to confine him seemed to make that change. The area he was in was huge – so huge it had no visible beginning or end. Therefore, playing it safe, he stayed in basically the same spot he had originally found himself.

"I won't heal," he muttered to himself. Then he shrugged. If you're trapped in eternity, alone, who's to tell you that you can't talk to yourself? "Well, if this is hell, it must be air conditioned." And boring. Everywhere he looked, there was nothing. He saw nothing, he felt nothing, he heard... something.

Her voice seemed to echo at first. A voice calling his name, getting gradually louder and more clear. "Gabriel?!" Her form materialized next, almost directly in front of him, a few short feet seperating their etherial forms. She was backlit by the metaphorical (or possibly literal) light of heaven. But even though he couldn't quite make out her face, he could hear her voice clearly. A moment later, her face came into view, and Elle looked confused. "Gabriel? What are you doing here?"

Sylar stared at her, and took an involuntary step back. "Elle... What... I..." The night on the beach seemed to well up within his mind, as if it was playing on some sort of giant screen behind his eyes. Elle, gorgeous, hurt, pinned beneath him in the sand... the slow, lingering kiss... the decision he couldn't escape. They'd made him a monster, and when his powers returned, and his clarity of thought returned as well, he realized that ultimately, he would be the death of her. Her lying to him, not telling him all she knew, that wasn't as much of a factor as the realization that he would ultimately hurt her. Best to do it now when he was in control. When he could do it fast and save her from lingering pain. _"Damaged goods..."_ he'd called them – and they were. He didn't want the world to hurt her anymore. And more than that, he didn't want to hurt her or let her down.... the way he suddenly knew, beyond a doubt, that he would. So he'd killed her. It had been the single hardest thing he'd ever done, but he did it. He'd released Elle from that future of pain – and apparently abandoned her to this... place... wherever this was.

When he took a step back, she felt tears well up in her eyes. She turned away from him. He didn't want her anymore.. he'd KILLED her... that's how much he'd resented her. Resented her part in making him who and what he'd become. She fought her tears, almost choking on them. She couldn't look at him. She didn't know what to think, or what to feel.

_If we're here together..._ Sylar thought. _If we're here together, then I must be dead._ When he saw her reaction, the way she turned away, his first instinct was to take her into his arms and hold her. To kiss her pain away... He wants to take them back to the Canfield home during the eclipse, back to their lying in each other's arms... back to tender caresses and heated looks... He spoke softly, taking a step toward her. "Elle..." She must hate him for what he did. He couldn't expect her to understand – she couldn't see clearly, the way he could. His gift... his curse... his ability... Intuitive Aptitude didn't just come with the Hunger – it came with the curse of seeing how everything works – how it can, and how it should... And how it has to. It was how he knew he had to kill her, or else when she did die, it would be slow, lingering, painful, and he'd be powerless to stop it... But what could he possibly say? What do you say to someone who you've literally kissed, and then killed?! Someone you love more than your own life... someone who it tore your heart out to kill... someone who will never understand why you had to. "Elle, I... I'm sorry..."

Elle's head turned with a jerk, glaring over her shoulder at him. Her cheeks were streaked with tears as she narrowed her eyes at him. "You're... sorry? You're SORRY?! What next after that, Gabriel? Are you going to tell me that I had it COMING?!"

He expected the fury in her eyes, but it still shocked him; and still hurt. Those beautiful blue eyes that could burn through him as sure as her electricity could, should never be filled with tears on his account. He took a step toward her, but stopped when sparks crackled from her hands – even on this plane, wherever it was, they obviously still possessed their powers, it seemed. "No. Never. I was... I was trying to save you..." _Yeah, by killing you. That's going to make sense to someone without my curse..._

Elle lifted her hands, electricity sparking from her palms. "DON'T come any closer!!" She's ready to defend herself. He won't hurt her again! She'd paid her penance for turning him into a monsther. Did he follow here, into this nothingness, just to hurt her again?!

Sylar stopped, holding up his hands, trying to show that he meant no harm... Probably a stupid move, given their history. When he spoke, his voice was quiet, modulated... the way it was that day in the cell. She'd killed him, again and again that day. Blown him apart, atom by atom, and he'd taken it. He'd regenerated, recovered, and come back stronger, only to have it happen again. And then, once she had spent her anger, spent her pain and rage at him for killing her father, I twas into his arms that she'd fallen, and his side she'd snuggled into. Her body had been so warm and soft against his... always so warm and soft... "Elle, I won't.. I can't hurt you. Don't you see? We're both dead. If I hadn't done what I did, you'd still be hurting. You'd be with me, and hurting, and bleeding.. Your death would've been so much worse. I had to save you. I couldn't let it happen." Saying it aloud, despite the fact that he knew it was the truth, it still sounded like a paltry excuse.

Fury burned in her blue eyes, like two white hot coals. "I could've lived my life! For just a moment, I could've seenw hat it was like to live out from under the shadow of the Company! And YOU took it away! WHY!??"

He took a step back under her verbal assult. Her words hurt more than her electricity, even more so because it was true, and he knew it. He kept his hands up, his eyes on hers, wary of the crackling electricity... _Can you die if you're already dead?_ He didn't want to find out. "Elle.... They would've killed you. Bennet, Primatech, Pinehurst... Someone would've killed you. I know it. I couldn't let them. I couldn't let them make you suffer. I couldn't run the risk of them using me to get to you." The pain in his eyes made them feel as if they were burning... or perhaps that was unshed tears. "I couldn't do anything else. I had to save you. To free you. To release you from everyone's control... even mine... once and for all."

Elle furrowed her brow and shook her head, her electricity shutting down as she turned away from him. "So instead you turn into them... You just got to me first."

Sylar winced, but lowered his own hands and slowly approached her. His voice was now the quiet, gentle voice of the watchmaker she saved... not the harsh, jaded tone of Sylar, the serial killer. "Elle... I love you."

She froze in her tracks, then turned to look at him, the surprise evident on her face. When she turned, he was right there, standing directly behind her. Did he walk that close, or somehow just move himself there through pure force of will? Anything seemed possible on this plane.

"You've always been my angel, Elle," he continued, meeting her eyes. "With, or without the broken watch. You saved my life... I was angry, when I realized what you'd done. What you'd kept from me... That you'd forced me to be a monster... But I know you were only following orders. I can't hate you..." His voice softened, stepping so close that they were almost touching. "Just like you can't hate me for being the monster they made me."

She stared at him, mouth hanging slightly open, for the longest time. Seconds seemed to be hours... but time has no meaning when you're dead. Finally, she slowly looked down, hanging her head in apparent shame. "I... I tried to stop Bennett... I didn't want what happened to you to happen."

Now he felt safe to touch her. His hand came up, seemingly of it's own violition, touching her cheek with the backs of his fingers. He didn't know what he expected in this strange plane of nothingness, but she felt just as warm and soft as the last time he touched her. His voice was soft as he whispered, "I know. You cared about me when no one else did. When they only saw me as a tool – a gun to be aimed." He gave a slight, self-mocking smile. "I knew I was falling in love with you when you brought me the peach pie." That little "carpet picnic" had been one of the nicest moments of his life, despite the subject matter discussed and the way the two of them had come together. When he was with Elle, he felt special, needed... Even loved... More than he ever had before.

The corners of Elle's mouth quirked up in a small smirk. "Peach is your favorite." She turned to face him, finally, and reached out to caress his cheek, much as he had hers. "You can't stay here, Gabriel. You still have so much more to do in life."

Sylar almost didn't hear her words, tilting his head against her hand and closing his eyes. When her words registered, he responded quietly, his hand raising to cover hers at his cheek. "I'm dead. Something in my brain. I'm not regenerating, Elle... And I want to stay with you." He opened his eyes, lifting his free hand to run his fingers through her hair. "Don't you see? Here, we really ARE free... We're just us. Together... Forever."

Her voice was a soft whisper, and tears again filled her eyes they met his. "I don't want you to leave.. But you have to. You don't belong here, Gabriel. Not yet..." She stepped closer, slipping her arms around him. "You're destined to be special."

Sylar closed his eyes, wrapping his arms tight around her, pulling her smaller body against his. "I don't care..." A strange sensation at the back of his head caught his attention – he's suddenly vaguely aware that he was stabbed with glass, and that he's in a fire... The glass was melting within his skull and slipping out. His regeneration was taking over. His eyes flew open and met Elle's. "No... No! Elle, I love you..."

He tried to fight the pull. Back to his body... away from Elle... He didn't want to go back. Special or not, it didn't matter. He found his heaven, and he was being torn away from it... even as he held her in his arms.

Elle hugged Sylar tightly, crying against his chest. "I love you, Gabriel Gray," she whispered to him, knowing that these were their last moments for... however long until he was here again. "You were always special to me..." She lifted her head, eyes that burned with firey passion meeting his. "Now show THEM how special you are." She lifted onto her toes and kissed him, fiercely.

The kiss seemed to last forever, and be over in an instant. Even as their lips parted, he felt himself slipping away from her. When he felt her disappear from his arms, he screamed her name, but he couldn't hear any sound... then the silence was abruptly broken by a fierce roaring of flames.

Sylar gasped back to life, and immediately choked on the smoke and flames. His lungs healed as fast as they scarred, even as he fought with his burning body and scrambled out of the burning building.

A few minutes outside and his regeneration was able to complete. Sylar stood, whole, clothing charred and hanging off his body, staring back at the burning Primatech building. He blinked back tears that had nothing to do with the smoke. Staring into the fire, the flames reflecting in his eyes, he whispered to his own angel of fire... of vengence. "I will show them, Elle... For you. I'll see you again, my angel. I promise."

Sylar turned his back on the burning building and smirked despite the tears in his eyes. It was a whole world, ripe for the picking... New abilities... new enemies... And he couldn't wait to get started.

_It's only just begun._

_*tickticktickticktickticktick...*_


End file.
